JargonFile/entries/burn-in period.txt

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2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
burn-in period
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal components
before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect
customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the bathtub curve (see infant
mortality ). 2. A period of indeterminate length in which a person using a
computer is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs
such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning: Excessive burn-in can lead to
burn-out. See hack mode , larval stage. Historical note: the origin of
burn-in (sense 1) is apparently the practice of setting a new-model
airplane's brakes on fire, then extinguishing the fire, in order to make
them hold better. This was done on the first version of the U.S. spy-plane,
the U-2.